Guessing the new Shadowlands release date

[rrayy]

You guys gotta keep in mind that they won't release a raid and especially an xpac while they aren't at the office. They typically take a break from mid-December to mid-January

They can wait until January to release the raid. There is no rule that stated the raid absolutely has to be released x weeks after expansion.

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You know that means absolutely nothing, right? Next week they can just say "Early next year." and absolutely nothing will happen because of it. Just a lot of forum crying.
Their latest update just reinforced my opinion that it is not coming out in 2020.

They aren't goin to delay a 2nd time. They do not want that PR fiasco. It's coming out in 2020.

[kaintk]

imagine working in blizzard right now, everyday, your boss push you to be quick and efficient
and those boss are pushing by other boss
and the other boss are pushed by activision to be quick for money
and between them there is the high boss of blizard who try to persuade activision to let them make a good product
haha omg

[Revamp Man]

i say the 1st because it gives them
6 more weeks not taking into account a technical holiday week/weekend
it gives them time to fix the multiple game breaking bugs that are in the game (the delay is not just balancing)
then it allows them a few weeks to polish after launch
allows them to hold of raid for 5 weeks which isnt too bad because you would still have people who even min maxing with 1 leggo and a renown level of 15 meaning two soulbinds and a few conduits

[Onikaroshi]

And on top of that it‘s:

- 7 days after Xbox Series X release
- 7 days after AC Valhalla release
- 5 days after PS5 release
- 5 days after Demon‘s Souls release
- 2 days before Cyberpunk 2077 release
- only 3 weeks later than their initial release date

Granted, pre patch would have had a 5 week run and the anniversary is a neat thing, but the 17th would basically be the worst possible date for the Shadowlands release. It’s the busiest week(s) in video gaming.

It's also the only decent date (well, the 24th wouldn't be too bad) any later and they'd have to delay the raid too much, which would be just as bad.

If they have to delay the raid til jan, I'd rather they just delay the expansion til jan, at least we can still raid and do M+ during prepatch.

[Nyel]

It's also the only decent date (well, the 24th wouldn't be too bad) any later and they'd have to delay the raid too much, which would be just as bad.

If they have to delay the raid til jan, I'd rather they just delay the expansion til jan, at least we can still raid and do M+ during prepatch.

I honestly don’t see any problem with releasing Shadowlands in December and delaying the raid until January. During Christmas and New Year’s Eve most guilds don’t raid. And it would give players enough time to level one or two characters until the raid opens, farm some mythic dungeons etc. - 8/15 December for launch and 5/12 January for raid opening seems to line up perfectly imho.

[Othraerir]

SL might launch before 2021, but i doubt the raid will.

[Sevryn]

Chwelf of July choo thousands and chwelve

[Onikaroshi]

I honestly don’t see any problem with releasing Shadowlands in December and delaying the raid until January. During Christmas and New Year’s Eve most guilds don’t raid. And it would give players enough time to level one or two characters until the raid opens, farm some mythic dungeons etc. - 8/15 December for launch and 5/12 January for raid opening seems to line up perfectly imho.

I was already ready for end game launch after a week of BfA, and there's no real grind in SL, it'll be a disaster. People will be bored of the new SL baby, Torghast, because it will be the only thing to do.

At least there will still be raiding, M+ and pvp to do if they just delay everything til Jan.

[Casperite]

What is this automatic upper limit? Some pre-patches have been 6-8 weeks in the past. If the game was only being delayed by 2-3 weeks, we likely would have been given a date.

The fact we weren't means they feel the delay is a timeline they cannot pinpoint, thus gives credibility to it being a longer one. I think a further delay to early 2021 is more likely than an early November release at this point.

You contradict yourself. How could they give a release date if they knew it was delayed 2-3 weeks? It could be that they were unsure if it would take 2 weeks or 3 weeks, so no release date until they know for certain. Same can be said for 1-2 weeks delay, or 5-6. Saying it definitely will not release in November because no release date was given is silly and makes no sense.

I think it may be November 17th.

[Nize]

They can wait until January to release the raid. There is no rule that stated the raid absolutely has to be released x weeks after expansion.

If this was a mid/end-tier patch, I would agree, but not for the initial tier where it would leave the high-end barebones. They need the initial content out there. Future patches can get their post-holiday delay. First set of content can't afford that.

[rrayy]

If this was a mid/end-tier patch, I would agree, but not for the initial tier where it would leave the high-end barebones. They need the initial content out there. Future patches can get their post-holiday delay. First set of content can't afford that.

Noe of their content can afford that and the new expansion release definitely cannot afford that. They are already losing money. IF they delay it again after saying it will still be out this year will make that even worse and jobs will be on the line.

[Malefic]

You contradict yourself. How could they give a release date if they knew it was delayed 2-3 weeks? It could be that they were unsure if it would take 2 weeks or 3 weeks, so no release date until they know for certain. Same can be said for 1-2 weeks delay, or 5-6. Saying it definitely will not release in November because no release date was given is silly and makes no sense.

I think it may be November 17th.

You understand how when you delay a product you likely have a timeline in your head for how long it will take to then ship that product, based on what you want to do with the product and your experience with it?

Let's say for example if Blizzard only want to do some numerical changes and bug fixes, they may think they only need an extra 2-3 weeks.
Let's say for example if Blizzard want to add new systems, adjust current systems and do the aforementioned, the timeline gets longer, and you start reaching a point where you don't really know fully if you can get it done in 4 weeks, or 6, or 8. The more changes you want to make, the less likely you understand the timeline required to achieve those changes, thus you don't have a narrow enough timeframe for when you'd be able to release it again.

If Blizzard just wanted to do numerical fixes and balance, they'd know they'd be able to achieve that within X period of time, therefore they'd give a date just past that to be safe. If they think they need 2-3 weeks longer, they'd give a date 4 or 5 weeks later. The fact they didn't give a date, means they don't know how long they need in order to get the expansion ready, which indicates they likely have a larger scope of changes than just "numerical changes and bug fixes". This, has now been proven to be true since my comment was made and Blizzard released the large blue post stating they had a list of changes they wanted to implement, including expanding the Maw, changing the Conduit lockout system, amongst numerical changes, bug fixes, a complete rebalancing of legendary power, adjustments to the XP/levelling process.

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with the transfer services rebate ending nov 15 the next rumour is nov17.
which is by chance also the "anniversary of wow" event

It's worth noting that we haven't had any indication of the pre-launch event going live yet, which is a 2 week event (in terms of the amount of content), I would imagine Blizzard would want it running for 3 weeks at least.

My personal view is that actually November 17th represents when that pre-launch event will go live, leading us up to a December 1st-15th release date (Although I think 8th is the most likely followed by 15th).

[Nize]

Noe of their content can afford that and the new expansion release definitely cannot afford that. They are already losing money. IF they delay it again after saying it will still be out this year will make that even worse and jobs will be on the line.

Their patched content can afford it because there is current content to delve in, even if done a million times already. Looking at something like 8.1's raid (BoD) being released after the holidays, there's still Uldum and M+ content there to bore yourself with, not so with xpac content. They can't afford a December release, followed by raid in mid-January. I don't think they'll delay beyond 2020, I never said that. I think release will be Nov 17th regardless of quality, with raid 2 weeks after.

[razorpax]

Their patched content can afford it because there is current content to delve in, even if done a million times already. Looking at something like 8.1's raid (BoD) being released after the holidays, there's still Uldum and M+ content there to bore yourself with, not so with xpac content. They can't afford a December release, followed by raid in mid-January. I don't think they'll delay beyond 2020, I never said that. I think release will be Nov 17th regardless of quality, with raid 2 weeks after.

They can easily wait 5 weeks after launch for raid
Torghast will exist so legendaries will start being crafted
World boss rotation means players can get all the powers from them
The renown cap means you will be around unlocking the third soulbind on mythic release
The players will have time for the conduit farm
Time to get the rep grind

There’s no negative to a long wait before the season starts because of all the set up players need to do this expansion and they absolutely CAN’T launch a game that is so busted the leveling experience doesn’t work

[Nyel]

I was already ready for end game launch after a week of BfA, and there's no real grind in SL, it'll be a disaster. People will be bored of the new SL baby, Torghast, because it will be the only thing to do.

At least there will still be raiding, M+ and pvp to do if they just delay everything til Jan.

I don't see this as problematic. We have to remember that it's 2020 and player's attitude might have changed. Many want to go slower, whatever. Maybe nothing has changed, but I think we finally must start seeing this from another perspective with 2020 vision (pun intended). This year isn't normal, Shadowlands delay / development / launch isn't normal.

Splitting the expansion launch and season 1 / raid launch for a month would give both, Blizzard and players, a necessary breathing room.

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If this was a mid/end-tier patch, I would agree, but not for the initial tier where it would leave the high-end barebones. They need the initial content out there. Future patches can get their post-holiday delay. First set of content can't afford that.

But they don't need it when launch is 2 weeks ahead of Christmas. Nobody is going to raid over that time and if Shadowlands launches December 15 the raid isn't mandatory this year.
_________

This pre-patch can exist for a way longer time due to revamped leveling. Other pre-patches didn't have that and just offered an event. Shadowlands pre-patch adds basically a completely revamped leveling experience so that players can play twinks or catch up with leveling (like me).

[The Butt Witch]

Tommorow at 2.

[Onikaroshi]

I don't see this as problematic. We have to remember that it's 2020 and player's attitude might have changed. Many want to go slower, whatever. Maybe nothing has changed, but I think we finally must start seeing this from another perspective with 2020 vision (pun intended). This year isn't normal, Shadowlands delay / development / launch isn't normal.

Splitting the expansion launch and season 1 / raid launch for a month would give both, Blizzard and players, a necessary breathing room.

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But they don't need it when launch is 2 weeks ahead of Christmas. Nobody is going to raid over that time and if Shadowlands launches December 15 the raid isn't mandatory this year.
_________

This pre-patch can exist for a way longer time due to revamped leveling. Other pre-patches didn't have that and just offered an event. Shadowlands pre-patch adds basically a completely revamped leveling experience so that players can play twinks or catch up with leveling (like me).

So why not just extend the prepatch until Jan and not screw with the raid schedule

[Nyel]

So why not just extend the prepatch until Jan and not screw with the raid schedule

I mean, what exactly is the problem of Shadowlands launching 4 weeks before the raid opens? You still can do Torghast, dungeons, craft your legendary or whatever. There's enough to do over a worldwide holiday to keep you busy, you really don't need the raid in the first place. Plus, a delay until 2021 would be another broken promise ("later this year").

[Revamp Man]

I mean, what exactly is the problem of Shadowlands launching 4 weeks before the raid opens? You still can do Torghast, dungeons, craft your legendary or whatever. There's enough to do over a worldwide holiday to keep you busy, you really don't need the raid in the first place. Plus, a delay until 2021 would be another broken promise ("later this year").

like i stated
shadowlands is in a unique situation with the systems
it can handle a 6 week gap before the season starts and might benefit from it actually because you will get tons of information about the covenant abilities and soulbinds in that time

so lets say it launches the 1st and there is a 6 week gap

high end will have their alts and mains

average players will have their main
they will be geared from m0 mostly
they will have a renown of 18 so the story and soulbind will be powered accordingly
they will have the anima for some purchases and most leggo powers for their class
they will have lets say 6 weeks of torghast ash so thats what 2 leggos or a rank 2 leggo

so relatively they will be at the same power level as they were at the beginning of legion with its standard raid release

[Nyel]

like i stated
shadowlands is in a unique situation with the systems
it can handle a 6 week gap before the season starts and might benefit from it actually because you will get tons of information about the covenant abilities and soulbinds in that time

so lets say it launches the 1st and there is a 6 week gap

high end will have their alts and mains

average players will have their main
they will be geared from m0 mostly
they will have a renown of 18 so the story and soulbind will be powered accordingly
they will have the anima for some purchases and most leggo powers for their class
they will have lets say 6 weeks of torghast ash so thats what 2 leggos or a rank 2 leggo

so relatively they will be at the same power level as they were at the beginning of legion with its standard raid release

I completely agree, there is enough to do in the 4-5 weeks from expansion launch to raid opening, especially if we consider the holidays in between. This is like every expansion should launch imho, as it would prevent rushing to just get prepared asap for raids.